About this project

Awful Fantasy: The Card Game

$88,936

2,994

Awful Fantasy: The Card Game is a competitive card game for 2-6 aspiring authors vying for the coveted goal of a finished story.

The game consists of two decks of cards, the awful deck and the fantasy deck, and a set of author cards.

In the game, each player takes on the role of an author and competes to be the first to play all three required fantasy cards for a finished story—a Protagonist card, an Antagonist card, and a Plot card.

To obtain the required fantasy cards to finish their story and win the game, players draw cards from the awful deck. These awful cards may allow you to draw from the fantasy deck, take a card from the discard pile, plagiarize by stealing fantasy cards from opponents, or even destroy an opponent's hard-earned story elements by killing off their Protagonist, poking holes in their Plot, or by de-antagonizing their Antagonist.

Incorporating the unique and absurd humor of Justin and Mitchell Lucas (@AwfulFantasy), with gameplay designed by Adam and Brady Sadler (Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game), and featuring the art of Conor Nolan, Awful Fantasy: The Card Game is an awfully great blend of quick, elegant card play, beautiful illustrations, and absurdly hilarious fantasy satire.

@AwfulFantasy is a comedy fantasy and science fiction social media account guided by Justin Lucas and Mitchell Lucas. Each tweet satirizes or parodies classic tropes and cliches in fantasy and science fiction writing.

Here's what some people have said about us:

Awful Fantasy: The Card Game was designed to be simple and super easy to learn. Here's an example video for your first round of gameplay:

The Protagonist, Antagonist, and Plot cards are each based on characters or events from popular @AwfulFantasy tweets. This allows us the opportunity to make sure Awful Fantasy: The Card Game is as silly and colorful as it can be.

Some of the tweets we've chosen are... weird (okay, most of them). It would most likely be a challenge for most artists to translate. We knew it was very important to find an artist who could not only capture the absurdity of our tweets, but to help us visualize the characters and places we come up with in a spectacular way. Conor Nolan does just that.

Conor Nolan is an illustrator based out of New York. From editorial illustrations for Vice Magazine, comic covers for Dark Horse Comics and Boom! Studio, and promotional material for MTV he has covered a varied range of clients and projects. Nolan's work can be seen on posters, apparel, comics, magazines, newspapers, beer labels, and record covers. And now, it can be seen onAwful Fantasy: The Card Game.

(Conor's original line drawing for Gru'k. This is what the Original Line Drawing Level reward will look like)

Every copy of Awful Fantasy: The Card Game will include all unlocked stretch goals.

We've partnered up with established tabletop game designers, and good friends, Adam Sadler and Brady Sadler to make Awful Fantasy: The Card Game not only funny, but fun.

Adam and Brady Sadler have been working together creatively since before they could walk. This twin brother design team has worked together on staff at Fantasy Flight Games, contributing to game lines such as Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition, Mansions of Madness, X-Wing, Gears of War, and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

Their first published design together was FFG's Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game. Since moving on from FFG, the Sadlers have begun working with other publishers, both in the tabletop and digital world.

We're excited to have the help of such big influencers in the tabletop gaming world to really help make Awful Fantasy: The Card Game a funny, enjoyable gaming experience.

At the Adventure Level pledge tier and above, backers will receive The Dæmon Queen's Sæcret Tower, a very special Awful Fantasy roleplaying adventure specifically designed to be compatible with 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons!

Here's the story:

Once a regal and respected Queen of the Land of Orboz, Queen Fœtida instilled the opposite of fear into the hearts or her loyal subjects. Faced with the knowledge that she comes from a royal line rife with incest and illegal underground dragon fighting, Fœtida was dethroned by the Lord of a lesser house who uncovered her family’s darker past. Queen Fœtida, residing in an old, long abandoned sæcret tower in the Dargon Mountains, is now a servant of Necrosa, and has turned from her love of Contemporary Impressionism to the somewhat Darker Arts—NECROMANCY!

The Undead are invading the peaceful townships and cities of Orboz, consuming the flesh of the living, and ever spreading their vile dark magic and unpopular religious beliefs. Queen Fœtida has been spotted as a shade near the Dargon Mountains, and tale is told she still lives, most likely raising the dead as her own Personal Undead Army of Revenge!

It is up to a small band of heroes (you) to find Queen Fœtida and put an end to her Necromaniacal ways. In the Dargon Mountains lies the decrepit heart of the dark magic that plagues Orboz like a plague. In this metaphorical heart is where you must end the Dark Queen’s evil, vengeful plans (by killing her). Deep up inside The Dæmon Queen’s Sæcret Tower!

Risks and challenges

We have great and trusted help in the design and production of this game. The biggest challenge is shipping all over the world and unknown quantities to ship. We've done our homework, gleaning this type of information from similar successful projects.

Our slightly higher Kickstarter goal not only pays for some absolutely amazing-quality art, but allows us to get the game manufactured in a great quality. In addition to manufacturing, this cost allows us to use a highly-rated fulfillment company to ensure that our projects will be delivered in a quick, and professional manner. We can't pretend to know how to ship hundreds of games around the world on our own, so we will make sure it will be done by the experts.

We're confident we can, and will, deliver a great product in a timely manner to our backers.

We know Kickstarters can get out of hand with rewards and stretch goals. We're focusing on creating a quality product, with rewards and goals that fit with the game and allow us to make pledging worthwhile to backers while ensuring rewards are fulfilled on time.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $25 or more
About $25

Adventure Level

At this pledge level, you will receive:

• Awful Fantasy: The Card Game!
• We'll provide you with high-quality PDFs of all of the cards when the game ships so that you can print and play the game at your leisure!
• Awful Fantasy: The Card Game Digital Art Pack with all of the high-res illustrations found within the game!
• The Daemon Queen's Saecret Tower PDF (An Awful Fantasy Roleplaying Adventure!)
• And you also get your name in a special 'Thank You' section in the rule book! You'll be cemented in Awful Fantasy's absurd history for generations!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $200 or more
About $200

Original Line Drawing Level

At this tier, you will receive:

• Awful Fantasy: The Card Game!
• We'll provide you with high-quality PDFs of all of the cards when the game ships so that you can print and play the game at your leisure!
• Awful Fantasy: The Card Game Digital Art Pack with all of the high-res illustrations found within the game!
• The Daemon Queen's Saecret Tower PDF (An Awful Fantasy Roleplaying Adventure!)
• Your name in a special 'Thank You' section in the rule book!
• One of Conor's few, original line drawings used in the creation of the actual finished art seen on the Fantasy Cards within the game! Done with brush and ink on 9x9" Bristol paper. Signed by the artist.

Original line drawing is chosen at random.

Add $20 for each additional copy of Awful Fantasy: The Card Game (limit one original line illustration per backer at this level)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $500 or more
About $500

Custom Author Card Level

At this tier, you will receive:

• Awful Fantasy: The Card Game!
• We'll provide you with high-quality PDFs of all of the cards when the game ships so that you can print and play the game at your leisure!
• Awful Fantasy: The Card Game Digital Art Pack with all of the high-res illustrations found within the game!
• The Daemon Queen's Saecret Tower PDF (An Awful Fantasy Roleplaying Adventure!)
• Your name in a special 'Thank You' section in the rule book!
• We will work with you to transform your likeness into a custom Author card that we will ship with every game. You can even help us come up with your special author ability!

Add $20 for each additional copy of Awful Fantasy: The Card Game (limit one custom author card per backer at this level)